According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health promotion is defined as the process of enabling individuals and communities to increase control over factors that shape their health and thereby improve it.

Health Promotion aims to upgrade the physical and social environment, strengthen the broader determinants that positively influence human health, and shape healthy attitudes and behaviors. In 1986, with the Ottawa Charter, WHO established health promotion policy with the aim of enabling individuals and groups to fulfill their aspirations and satisfy their needs by advocating for or changing the environment in which they live. At the same time, the emphasis on utilizing personal and social abilities and capacities requires enhanced knowledge and skills at both the individual and community level, in other words, it requires health education. Health Education is an integral part of health promotion and an essential component of its empowering process.

Health promotion can be ensured through the:

• development of personal skills
• creation of supportive physical and social environments
• participation and advocacy of the local community
• design and implementation of public policies that support health

For more information on the evolution of health promotion, you can visit the World Health Organization's website on Health Promotion and Education